It is fairly common knowledge that on average, people spend about ⅓ of their lives sleeping. However, there are many people whose sleeping activity does not fall within the average, and of these people a substantial proportion experience one or more common sleeping disorders. While a detailed discussion of the number and types of sleep disorders is beyond this specification, it is nevertheless worthy of mention that most of the people who experience sleep disorders typically achieve less sleep than they generally desire. Sleep deprivation is known to alter cerebral behavior, as shown by hundreds of readily-available studies in the field of psychology, including MRI scans of the temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex of sleep-deprived persons versus persons well rested during verbal learning tests. (Nature magazine, Feb. 10, 2000 issue by author Sean Drummond, et al). Sleep deprivation has been shown to correlate with increased rates of suicide, increased divorce rates, and increased mental stress, which can in many cases set the foreground for the development of more serious chronic disorders. Therefore, it is clear that successfully assisting a person who suffers from a sleep disorder in restoring their body's natural sleeping patterns is an achievement of multi-faceted benefit.
There are a many causes of the various known sleep disorders. Of these causes the physical comfort of the person attempting to sleep or rest is paramount, for if a person's ambient surroundings are not conducive to their personal comfort, sleep can become extremely difficult to achieve, if at all. One factor in the person's environment that has a bearing on their ability to achieve sleep is the ambient temperature. If the temperature of the surroundings of a person is either too hot or too cold, restful sleep may be impossible. Of particular concern is the case where the surroundings are too hot, because in such cases the body's ability to control its internal temperature may be effected to the point where the body begins to sweat, and it is nearly impossible to achieve restful sleep while sweating. Thus, maintaining the ambient temperature at a level which is conducive to sleep is a key to enabling a person to sleep.
Means for controlling the ambient temperature in a person's surroundings are known to include the provision of “air conditioning” in which an air conditioner utilizing the principles of Joule-Thomson cooling is employed to extract heat from a volume of air, such as a bedroom. While air conditioners are highly effective at coarsely controlling the temperature in a room, the customary preference for persons to sleep beneath one or more bedsheets, covers, blankets, etc. coupled with the body's tendency to liberate heat during its normal operation translates to the well-known situation in which the person resting beneath the sheets cannot get comfortable because they are too hot, which is compounded by the proposition that if they remove the covers or sheets from themselves then they become too cold. Owing to variance between selected individual human subjects' metabolism, genetics, etc. the method used in the fine tuning control of one's body temperature becomes a matter of personal taste or preference, and many individuals have typically been observed to develop their own personal habits of effecting such fine tuning, such as sleeping with more or less clothing, permitting part of the body to be exposed to the open air, etc. In spite of these efforts, however, perfect control of the temperature of ambient surroundings of persons desiring to sleep has been fleeting. This fact is evidenced by the myriad of schemes and contrivances provided by workers in the prior art for effecting thermal control over a bed or region in which a person normally rests for sleep, the following few of which are exemplary, and are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. U.S. Pat. No. 1,142,876 discloses a mattress having perforated conduits disposed along the edges of the mattress, and deflectors overhanging the perforations. There is a means for sucking air simultaneously through the perforations of all of the conduits. U.S. Pat. No. 2,097,751 provides a mattress comprising a bedstead having: a) two bed posts; b) an air pump; c) a conduit leading from the air pump to the first of the bed posts; d) a manually operable valve in the conduit disposed adjacent to the first bed post; and e) a tube rotatably-journalled in the first two bed posts. The tube has a plurality of apertures disposed in a straight line, with one end of the tube being connected to the valve and the opposite end of the tube being closed by a plug carried in the second bed post. There is also provided a means for rotating the tube. Air is forced in jets through the apertures by the pressure generated by the pump and may be directed at any desired angle to the vertical. U.S. Pat. No. 2,461,432 teaches an air conditioning device for beds having a bedstead, a mattress supported on the bedstead and constructed with inlet and outlet ports and passages through the interior of the mattress connecting the ports. The invention includes a wall means surrounding the mattress above the top surface thereof. There is also a passage means from above the top of the mattress to the inlet, and a means for circulating air through the mattress passages by way of the inlet port, the passages, and the outlet port into the wall surrounded space, above the mattress, and then via the passage means back to the inlet port for recirculation through the mattress passages. There is also a means for causing a change in the temperature of the circulated air prior to its entry into the mattress passages. U.S. Pat. No. 3,444,922 sets forth an apparatus for regulating the temperature and humidity about the body of a person in a bed by circulating air in a progressive flow around the person's body. The invention uses a double-chambered bellows having inlet and outlet provisions for each chamber. The device includes a thermostat-controlled refrigeration device. U.S. Pat. No. 3,713,182 describes a device for elevating clothing above a bed and warming the air beneath the clothing. The invention utilities two hollow tubular arms which are vertically mounted on a side of the bed, and at a flexible line over which the clothing is draped. There is a small blower having a heating unit disposed beneath the bed, whose discharge is directed into the bed through passages formed in the flexible line. U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,486 provides a portable apparatus for cooling a selected region, such as around a bed, the apparatus comprising a portable enclosure for encompassing the region and defining an opening at the upper part of the region, the enclosure comprising: i) a frame for extending around the periphery of the region; ii) a frame support means for supporting the frame at a predetermined elevation relative to the region; and iii) a flexible sheet material hanging from the frame for encompassing the region and for defining an opening at the upper part of the region. The frame is pivotally mounted to the frame support means, and the enclosure further includes a torsion spring on the frame support means, whereby the spring may be engaged with the frame for biasing the frame to a normal position generally parallel with the floor, but permitting pivoting of the frame from the normal position to facilitate ingress and egress. There is also a portable cooling assembly including (i) a movable support structure for being positioned on the floor adjacent the region and having an upper end for being positioned adjacent the opening, (ii) a heat exchanger mounted to the upper end of the support structure for being positioned at an elevation adjacent the opening over a portion of the region, and (iii) means for circulating coolant through the heat exchanger whereby ambient air is cooled by the heat exchanger and flows downwardly into the region. U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,388 sets forth a generally-rectangular cooling cover adapted to be positioned over a human body in a prone position, the cooling cover comprising: a coverlet having an outer sheet, an inner porous pouch attached to the outer sheet, and an inner pad within the porous pouch. The inner pad includes a pair of upper and lower sheets formed of an air-impermeable material, with the upper sheet adjacent the coverlet and the lower sheet adjacent the porous pouch. The sheets are secured to each other along their outer edges to form an air distribution chamber therebetween, and are secured to each other along a plurality of parallel intermediate portions extending lengthwise between the ends of the sheets for a major portion thereof, to form a plurality of separate longitudinally extending air passages therebetween having lower rounded surfaces, and a plenum chamber extending transversely of the pad at each end thereof in fluid communication with the longitudinally extending air passages, and a cool air inlet at one end of the inner pad. The coverlet has an opening therein in alignment with the inlet of the pad adapted to receive a source of cool air for connection to the inlet. The lower rounded surfaces have a plurality of apertures along the length thereof at locations other than the lowermost portion of the rounded surfaces, and in fluid communication with the longitudinally extending passages whereby cool air may be discharged as small jets through the apertures at an angular relation to a vertical plane for diffusing through the porous pouch to contact a large area of the body cooled. U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,802 describes a blanket for connection with a supply of pressurized temperature-modified air, comprising: a) an outer layer constructed of an air-impervious material; b) an inner layer constructed of a material readily permeable by pressurized air, with the inner layer being arranged with most of its surface area contacting the outer layer; c) a sealing means interconnecting the outer and inner layers arranged in a substantially continuous closed path leaving an unsealed and separable portion of the outer and inner layers inwardly of the sealing means; and d) an inlet means communicating with the unsealed portion between the outer and inner layers for introducing the pressurized temperature-modified air therein at least a part of which pressurized air exits through the inner layer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,804 provides an apparatus for ventilating a bed in a room, the bed having a head, a foot, and a mattress positioned above a box spring The apparatus comprises: a) an elongate housing having an upper extent and a lower extent, and having a longitudinal axis which is positionable parallel to the foot of the bed, with the upper extent of the elongate housing being provided with at least one air inlet opening for receiving stale air, the elongate housing to also having an outlet duct for exhausting air into the room; b) at least one mounting flange extending outwardly from the elongate housing generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis thereof, with the mounting flange being adapted to be received between the mattress and box spring for supporting the elongate housing on the bed; c) a filtration means located between the air inlet opening to the elongate housing and the outlet duct for filtering the stale air entering the housing; d) at least one recirculating duct associated with the elongate housing for recirculating filtered air from the elongate housing back to the bed; and e) a fan means for drawing air through the air inlet opening, for exhausting filtered air out the outlet duct and for recirculating a portion of the filtered air through the recirculation duct. U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,120 discloses a ventilator for a bed, comprising abase means having a thin flat section that is adapted to be sandwiched between a mattress and a supporting bed structure, and having a cantilevered outer end section extending outwardly of an edge of the mattress for supporting, which includes: i) a fan means supported from the outer end section of the base and having a lower inlet for receiving air flow from a level below the mattress and a outlet for directing air upwardly toward an upper surface of the mattress; and ii) an elbow means for directing the air flow received from the outlet of the fan means over the upper surface of the mattress inwardly of the edge thereof, wherein the fan means and the elbow means include an air duct having an intake opening at a lower end for receiving incoming air flow for ventilating the bed. U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,527 sets forth a device for controlling a temperature of a person's sleeping environment, comprising: a) a means for drawing a vacuum to draw air from a sleeping environment; b) a means for fluidly connecting the sleeping environment to an intake port of the vacuum means; c) a means for determining a temperature of the air drawn from the sleeping environment; and d) a means for adjusting the speed of the air being drawn out of the sleeping environment based upon the temperature of the air. U.S. Pat. No. 6,473,920 describes an apparatus to manage the temperature of a supine person's lower extremities in a bed by directing air over a bed, comprising: a) a tubular air permeable distribution chamber comprising a length of open cell foam; b) a temperature-regulating blower coupled to the chamber for blowing warmed air from the blower into the chamber; and c) mounting hardware shaped to position the chamber at a foot of a bed where air at a normothermic temperature is directed from the chamber, over the bed. U.S. Pat. No. 6,546,576 provides an improved structure of a ventilated mattress with cooling and warming effect, which comprises: a) a mattress body; b) a warming/cooling air-delivery controlling box; and c) a connecting tube. The control box produces warming/cooling air to the mattress body via the connecting tube, and the warming/cooling air is released via a plurality of ventilation buttons mounted at the surface of the mattress body. The mattress thereby provides the user with a warming/cooling effect. U.S. Pat. No. 6,701,552 describes a warm-air blower for use with air-controlled bedding which comprises a quilt and a futon, which is used to control the sleeping environment by supplying warm air or cool air to the bedding. According to the invention the warm air blower unit has an air intake near a left- or right-hand side of its front surface, and the air taken in from the air intake is led so as to flow through the interior of the warm air blower unit to a fan. The fan is positioned at a distance from the air intake, and the warm air passing through the heater chamber is blown out of the warm air blower unit through two vertically arranged air outlets. One or optionally both of the outlets are equipped with a shutter that is capable of regulating the airflow. U.S. Pat. No. 6,711,767 provides an apparatus for warming a bed having a mattress covered by a bed covering, which comprises: a) a housing having an air inlet and an air outlet; b) a heater within the housing; c) a fan within the housing for producing a flow of air from the air inlet through the heater to the air outlet; and d) a support adjustably coupled to the housing and adapted to extend under the mattress to hold the housing along an edge of the mattress. The flow of air from the air outlet is directed between the mattress and the bed covering.
While each of the prior art devices and methods achieve to a greater or less extent their desired objectives, they are nevertheless not without features which have heretofore prevented their widespread adoption by large numbers of people. One of the main factors is believed to be the relative complexity of the prior art devices, with their attendant high cost, tedium in operation, and cumbersomeness in appearance and difficulty in retrofitting existing furniture, beds, and the like. Thus, it is clear that if a device were available which enabled a high level of control of the temperature of a person's body during sleep and which device were capable of being readily retrofitted to existing furniture, beds, and the like, that a large number of persons with sleep disorders could find relief from employment of such a device. If such a device were of such simplistic design that it could be manufactured and sold at a cost which is accessible to the predominant majority of persons, such would undoubtedly lead to its adoption. In addition, if such a device were small and portable, so that a user could easily stow it when not in use or transport it conveniently when traveling on the road or when merely switching rooms, such a feature would make adoption of such a device more attractive still. The present invention fulfills all of these needs in the marketplace, in addition to others as one of ordinary skill will come to appreciate by further consideration and understanding of the contents and implications of this specification and the claims appended hereto.